Arab League chief hails war crimes trial in Bangladesh: Why its not bloody funny…….

In what appeared to be another nicely put together happily ever after story courtesy of the Daily Star, funded by the government of Bangladesh, it was marketed as news of great significance that the Arab League chief Nabil El Araby has praised Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for holding trial for war crimes, according to the foreign ministry.

“The Arab League Secretary-General Dr Nabil El Araby praised Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s “guts and determination” to form and hold trials at the International Crimes Tribunals, Bangladesh (ICT-BD),” said the release.

During the meeting, the veteran diplomat recounted memories of the deliberations in the UN Security Council during Bangladesh’s 1971 War of Liberation.

The Secretary-General said he was following the developments with trials at the ICT “quite closely”, the press release continued, “and assured the Bangladesh state minister that the Arab League would always stand by the side of justice”.

Yawn……….

The reality that the Daily Star and you might have missed:

The above statement goes well in line with the editorial policies of the Daily Star, hence there is a need to speak up to the glaring silence on the following conveniently forsaken issues:

1.Remember Rab’aa Al Adawiyya ? Remember the massacre of more than two thousand innocent souls by the state forces in Egypt? Here is an accountto refresh your memory. Neither Nabil-El-Araby, the Arab League nor the government of Bangladesh made any comment on that terrible day as people were being slaughtered in front of the cameras. Words of justice in their mouths are akin to pearls before swine.

2.Now remind yourself of the May 5 massacre carried out by the government of Bangladesh on innocent civilians. None of the parties involved here talked of justice that day either.

3.The very International Crimes Tribunal being talked about here has a reputation long since in tatters. As one opinion piece nicely frames it, “Born in bloodshed, Bangladesh seeks a justice long overdue. Regrettably, the very judicial body responsible for delivering that justice instead threatens to further deny it. “ The withering analysis on the political murder through hanging of veteran opposition politician Abdul Quader Mollah by the Economist should be a final nail in the coffin to any notion that the tribunal ever wanted to deliver justice.